Philippians 2:12-18

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you… (vv. 12b-13a) I wanted to say a few words about this “fear and trembling”, but I found an online source that already has it covered:

“The Greek word translated ‘fear’ in this context can equally mean ‘reverence’ or ‘respect.’ Paul uses the same phrase in II Corinthians 7:15, where he refers to Titus as being encouraged by the Corinthians’ reception of him ‘with fear and trembling,’ that is, with great humility and respect for his position as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul himself came to the Corinthian church in ‘weakness and fear, and with much trembling’ (I Corinthians 2:3), mindful of the great and awesome nature of the work in which he was engaged.”

https://www.gotquestions.org/fear-and-trembling.html

We “work out our salvation” simply by being obedient to Jesus’ words, growing into a mature faith. It’s not a “faith vs. works” issue; we’re not working our way to heaven. It’s simply being the person Jesus wants us to be – modeling His life and words and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing… (v. 14) Seven words, one complete verse, ‘nuff said…!

Slava Bohu!

Philippians 2:1-11

Today’s reading, especially verses 4-11, is probably a favorite for all of us. Certainly it is for me. Even now the refrain from “He is Lord” is running through my head. So many words that Paul wrote are so glorious, so beautiful. We are blessed to have his writings at our fingertips!

I could just leave it at that – which was my initial intention. But then something struck me in the following verse: …so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth… (v. 10) I was wondering what Paul meant when he wrote “in heaven and on earth and under the earth”. Did he mean angels, living humans, and dead (buried) humans? Or did he mean saints and angels in heaven, humans alive on earth, and souls in hell? Two verses in Revelation 5:3, 13 use the same terminology. Here’s 5:3, And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. Looking online didn’t offer much guidance. But there is one item that is clear in that verse 10. The phrase, …at the name of Jesus… does not have a distinct time component. So wherever, whenever, Jesus’ name is mighty!

Slava Bohu!

Philippians 1:19-30

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (v. 21) I have quoted this verse so many times, especially in the context of our present COVID life! So many dead – but how many were “in Christ”? Undoubtedly, He knew them all and He called them home when it was their time. So while we are troubled by our current circumstances, we need to relax and know that God knows it all; He is allowing COVID to go on, until whenever. We just need to trust Him.

This verse also comes to mind from my time before I was born again in 1975. My friend, Jim, had been sharing with me for 3+ years, but I was resistant owing to my Catholic roots and what I saw as his Protestant message. But after some time of his sharing it was clear to me that Jim was absolutely happy in his new life in Christ. He knew where he would be spending eternity, but even if there were no God, Jim was thoroughly happy in his present life in Christ. That is, he couldn’t lose! God or no God, Jim was happy! For him, truly, to live was Christ and to die was gain! I know that this reality had some bearing on my eventual “conversion”. Glory!!

Slava Bohu!

Philippians 1:1-18

Philippians… We now embark on one of Carol’s and my favorite epistles. For me, Philippians was probably my first real connection between the book of Acts and Paul’s writings. I had read Acts well before I read any of Paul’s epistles, so I was aware of his imprisonment with Silas in Philippi (Acts 16). So when Paul writes the following sentiments to the Philippians in today’s reading, …I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel (v. 7b), on my first read of Philippians I was drawn back to Paul’s Philippian imprisonment. So way back then the seed was planted for the study we are doing this year!

I have made our reading program by following The Chronological Study Bible that we have been using since 2010. In placing Philippians here, however, I feel that the authors, editors and writers of this particular chronology have it wrong. Two questions arise – when did Paul write Philippians and where was he when he wrote it? The second question (where) is the more important. Bible scholars have offered three locations: Ephesus, Caesarea, and Rome. Since we know that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter (see above), I rule out Ephesus. There is no indication in Acts or elsewhere that he was ever imprisoned in Ephesus. Second, in Philippians 4:10-14 there is every indication that the Philippians had supported him financially. You will recall that Paul carried funds with him to Jerusalem to support the needy there, having raised those funds from Achaia, Macedonia, Asia, and Galatia. It seems unlikely to me that the Philippians would again be raising funds to support Paul while he was in Jerusalem, having fairly recently contributed to the welfare of the Jerusalem believers. Finally, there is mention throughout this letter of frequent travels from Paul’s prison location (by his friends) to Philippi. Caesarea is much further from Philippi than is Rome – either a long overland journey or many ship crossings. Rome is only one body of water, the Adriatic Sea, and a much shorter land distance. So bottom line, I favor this letter being written from Rome. However, if Philippians is chronologically misplaced in our reading schedule, our next body of readings will finish Acts and Philippians would have been placed right after the end of Acts. So, not a big deal. A long explanation, hopefully not too confusing…!

There are so many quotable verses in Philippians. One oft-quoted from today’s reading is verse 6, but I will let you consider that on your own. For my part I was touched today by verse 18: What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. The preceding verses are important in fully understanding this verse – that not everyone surrounding Paul in his prison state is preaching Jesus from a clean heart. But still “…Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” We have similar situations today with preachers who appear to be getting wealthy from their ministry, with people who follow them “religiously”. Still, Christ is proclaimed… There are also denominations that seem to be misguided from a lot of Biblical truth (from my perspective). Still, Christ is proclaimed… We may disagree with our Christian brothers on a number of our issues, but we agree on our fundamental beliefs as expressed in the Nicene Creed. But if people have difficulties with items in the Nicene Creed, then we are not on the same page! So today, HALLELUJAH, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 24:10-27

Felix… We’ve often heard that God’s word never goes out void. (Isaiah 55:11) So what about Felix in today’s reading? Evidently he spent a lot of time listening to Paul: (a) But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way… (v. 22a). (b) After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. (v. 24) (c) So he sent for him often and conversed with him. (v. 26b) Makes me wonder if in the end Felix might have had a change of heart?

Paul: “It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.” (v. 21b) Folks, we are all on trial this day, every day, with respect to Jesus’ resurrection. That thought should never be far from our minds.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 24:1-9

And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders… (v. 1) At first glance it may seem like the Jews took their time to come to Caesarea to make their case to the governor. However, Paul was swept away in the middle of the night and I doubt anyone followed the Roman escort all the way to Caesarea. Soon thereafter, however, some Jews in Caesarea surely heard that Paul was being held there. It would have been a two-day journey for a messenger to get from Caesarea to Jerusalem, then another day for the Jews to assemble their prosecution team, then another two-day journey back to Caesarea. So five days is a reasonable time span – and I doubt that the high priest was a young man!

Tertullus speaking: For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. (v. 5) There are a couple of items to note about this statement. Tertullus is trying to convince the Roman governor that Paul is a serious troublemaker. So first he creates the sense that Paul is something of a terrorist – leading riots throughout the world. Second, he refers to the Christians as Nazarenes. I recall that the Roman authorities in other cases had seen the Christians as simply an offshoot of the Jewish religion. Tertullus, however, is trying to claim that there is a new religion in the Roman world, one not acknowledged as legitimate by the Roman authorities.

Depending on your translation, you may see a numerical gap in verse numbering between verses 6 and 8. My Study Bible has this explanation: “Some manuscripts add ‘and we would have judged him according to our law. ⁷But the chief captain Lysias came and with great violence took him out of our hands, ⁸commanding his accusers to come before you.’ ” So verses 6b, 7, and 8a are absent in many translations. In their own translations, the ESV and NASB differ on this item. FYI.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 23:23-35

Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night… So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. (vv. 23, 31) The third hour of the night is 9 pm and Antipatris is about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, on the border between Judea and Samaria, approximately halfway to Caesarea. So the soldiers went off on a 30-mile nighttime hike, some ten hours marching at three miles per hour – then back to Jerusalem the next day. I can imagine the muttering within the ranks, remembering how much we enjoyed long marches with full pack in Basic Training!!

My Study Bible has a note that “spearmen” could also be translated “additional mounts and pack animals”. How close are those two translations??!! I like the second translation better. The traveling guard already contained 200 soldiers and 70 horsemen, with Paul also on a horse. Surely the 200 Roman soldiers could withstand incursions by small or even medium-size bands of attackers. And even against a large force the 70 horsemen could get Paul out of danger very quickly. By way of comparison, our Pony Express riders had stations every 10 to 15 to 20 miles, the distance a horse could reasonably run before tiring. So Paul and the 70 horsemen could be free and clear in short order.

Slava Bohu!

Acts 23:11-22

Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” (vv. 17-18) I’m impressed with the influence that Paul has with the Roman authorities. A centurion is in charge of 100 soldiers; it’s a fairly impressive position. But Paul is able to call in this centurion and tell him to take the young boy to the commander (the tribune), a man who is in charge of 1000 soldiers. And the centurion does what Paul asks, not even knowing what the message might be. Then the tribune immediately takes Paul’s nephew aside and listens to what he has to say. He has the Roman authorities doing what he asks, simply by asking. Impressive!!

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul… They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. (vv. 12, 14) At first glance these two verses seem to have the Jews plotting against Paul just as they had plotted against Jesus. However there are two important differences here. First, with Jesus it was the Jewish leaders who hatched the plot to have Him killed. Here it appears to be regular Jews (maybe Zealots?) who are planning Paul’s murder. These “commoners” go to the Jewish leaders with their plan, not for approval but to further what they have already plotted. We know their plan failed, but it is unspoken as to how the Jewish leaders responded to the conspirators’ request. Second, with Jesus it was the Jewish leaders’ plan to have Jesus killed legally by the Roman authorities, leaving themselves clear of any charge of murder. Here, the Jews are taking it upon themselves to murder Paul – presumably with little regard as to the consequences for any one man or for all forty conspirators. So they succeeded with Jesus and look what happened! So what’ll happen to Paul…?? Stay tuned!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 23:1-10

I’ve always thought it was clever of Paul to get the Pharisees and Sadducees fighting one another. I’m not sure it was much of an evangelistic tool, but I’m not sure Paul had a great deal of evangelism on his mind at that point – though, certainly, evangelism is never far from Paul’s thoughts!!

And Paul said, “…it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’” (v. 5) Since I am clearly guilty of Paul’s admonishment in this verse, I looked up that Old Testament quote (Exodus 22:28). Specifically, it says, You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. So thankfully, even though I have spoken evil of (some of) our leaders, I have not specifically cursed them. In fact, I have made it a point to pray for them whenever I think about it, as we do every Sunday at church. In this day and age, our political leaders in both parties are clearly in need of prayer!!

Slava Bohu!

Acts 22:22-30

So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. (v. 29) There is so much in Paul’s background that made him such an excellent missionary. In addition to his meeting Jesus personally, he was well schooled in Jewish law and traditions; he was conversant in a number of languages; and he was a Roman citizen. This third item has bearing today, as it did back in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas had been jailed in Philippi. Carol and I have felt similar protections as U.S. citizens when traveling abroad. We move around confidently, knowing that we have the U.S. government behind us. Our blue passports are “gold”. Without providing all the details, there was an occasion early in our first year in Slovakia (2004-2005) when someone reported to us that a high official had said, “Give these people what they want; the Embassy is involved.” Such was the power of the U.S. presence in Slovakia – and elsewhere around the world. Paul had that same coverage from Rome and it served him well on a number of occasions – including some reading in the next few chapters.

Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air… (vv. 22b-23a) I suggested yesterday that these verses suggest that a charge of blasphemy was being put forth by the Jewish leaders, but I hadn’t even looked forward to verse 23. In addition to the leaders wanting him dead (John 10:30-33), they threw off their cloaks (Acts 7:58) and they threw dust into the air (Genesis 18:27, Job 2:12, 34:14). Clearly these Jewish leaders were upset; it was only Rome’s intervention that saved Paul.

Slava Bohu!